Alpha Universe: Christmas War
by VibeQuake
Summary: Perry is back at OWCA and life is good: he has his mate, his friends, and his family, and it's coming up for Christmas. What Perry doesn't know is that a war is coming, one that will forever change both Perry and OWCA. All characters you do not recognise are mine but all characters you do recognise are not mine. I do not own any songs that appear. Slight AU (sequel to Field Trip)
1. Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree

Perry was getting sick of the sight of that stupid poster in his corner office. It was a poster of a disco dancing hedgehog with the caption _Keep Calm and Get Your Hedge On._ He kept glancing up from his report to give his eyes a break and the poster kept catching his eye. Eventually, Perry tore it to shreds and stuffed the pieces in his recycling bin. He was in a bad mood already; he had to finish a report on his latest battle with Doofenshmirtz but all he wanted to do was go home and decorate the Christmas tree with his family. December the 1st only came around once a year, and this particular one would never come around again. It was his and Priya's first Christmas as mates, and Perry really wanted to be at home with her.

Someone knocked on the wall of his office. Perry looked tiredly up and saw Patty, holding some papers. "Major Monogram sent me over with these," she said, holding the papers out to Perry, who took them without looking at them.

"Great. More stuff to do before I can go home."

Perry must have looked very tired because Patty asked, "Are you okay?"

"I really want to be at home with Priya," Perry sighed. "It's our first Christmas together as mates and we want to celebrate it but I have to finish this report."

"Did ripping up your poster make you feel better?" Patty inquired.

Perry blushed a bit. "Actually, yeah. It was taunting me."

Patty smiled. "Well, Major Monogram thought you might be like this," she said. "I spoke to him earlier and he said he'll extend the deadline to Friday if you want to go home now."

Perry leapt up. "Hallelujah!"

In a new record, he reached his house in five minutes. He burst through the door and into the living room, where there were some decorations already up, though the Christmas tree in the corner was bare.

Priya came to greet him. "Perry, I'm glad you're here. We were about to get started without you!"

Perry scanned her briefly. She had some tinsel on her head but other than that, she looked exactly the same as when she had left work two hours previously. "You have tinsel on your head."

Priya laughed and pulled it off. "Your boys are going a bit crazy," she said.

As if on cue, Phineas and Ferb ran through the living room, chasing each other with bits of tinsel and yelling at each other. Phineas caught sight of Perry and stopped dead, causing Ferb to run into him and knock both boys over.

"Hey, Perry's home!" shouted Phineas.

"Well spotted, genius," Ferb said dryly, who was lying on top of him. "Was it the fact that he's standing right there that gave it away?"

"Shut up."

Perry laughed as the two boys untangled themselves from each other. "How was work?" Phineas asked.

"Mind-numbingly dull," Perry replied, sighing. "I swear, the days keep getting longer and longer."

"Well, at least for us-." Phineas began singing. _"There are two wondrous weeks for our winter vacation before new year's and school come to end iiiiit!"_

" _So the holiday challenge for kids of all nations, is finding a good way to spend iiiiit!"_ Ferb finished.

Everyone laughed. "So where's everybody else?" Perry asked.

"Mom and Dad are still at the antiques store," Phineas replied.

Perry frowned. "This late?"

Phineas shrugged. "I think they have some kind of special delivery that hasn't come yet that they need to be there for. They phoned about half an hour ago to say they would be home late."

"And Candace?"

"She and Jeremy went to see a movie," Ferb replied this time. "I think it's the new Grievance movie."

"Those are terrifying," shuddered Perry. "I tried watching the first one once. Didn't end well."

"He hid behind the sofa and threw popcorn at the TV every time the Grievance girl came on screen," Priya translated with a grin. "I was there."

"Thanks, Priy," grumbled Perry, making the boys laugh again.

"So how about we get to work on this tree so it's done by the time Mom and Dad get home?" Phineas suggested.

"That sounds like a plan," smiled Priya.

Perry knew how brave she was being. Her host, Janet, had recently been in a heavy car crash and was living with her son down in New Orleans. It had broken both of their hearts, but the doctor had told Janet that she wouldn't be able to look after Priya anymore. Because of this, Priya had been allowed to live with Phineas and Ferb's family.

Perry switched on the CD player and began playing the Christmas CD.

The song _Danville for Niceness_ came on. "You guys made an extended version of this?" Priya asked as she put a bauble on the tree.

"Yeah," Phineas replied. "We really liked the song, though it was born out of a difficult time for us."

"Yeah, because losing Christmas would have killed us," Ferb said sarcastically, earning him a smack on the shoulder from Phineas.

"Never mind that," Perry interrupted. "Where's the normal Christmas CD?"

"It was boring," answered Ferb. "So we made a new one."

"But where is it?" Perry persisted.

"Don't you _like_ our music?" Phineas asked dramatically.

"I love your music," Perry grinned. "But that Christmas CD was mine. Where is it?"

"Ah," Phineas said, hiding his face behind a box of Christmas decorations.

"Phineas?" Perry said warningly. "I want my CD back."

"Well then, I hope you like Alaska," Ferb grinned. "Would you like to tell Perry why his CD's in Alaska?"

They received a whine from Phineas as an answer.

"Well, let's just say it involves a sleigh and a flight to Alaska," Ferb said, his grin broadening. "And Phineas getting a fright from a snow wolf while holding the aforementioned CD."

"I really liked that CD," Perry said, bending down to retrieve a bauble that he dropped. "So I hope Phineas still has that sleigh because _I'm_ certainly not going to Alaska to get it."

The song _Thank You Santa_ came on the CD.

"I love this song," Priya said, happily twirling across the room to get another box of decorations.

" _A song for all the things you do."_ The group sang along to the song as they decorated the tree. _"Santa Claus, we're thanking you!"_

"I love that song," Priya said as the song finished.

"You've already said that," Perry pointed out as he put the little Merry Christmas sign decoration on the tree where it could be seen by everyone in the living room.

 _Christmas Is Starting Now_ began. Phineas and Ferb danced along to it while Perry and Priya carried on with the tree. After that, _I Really Don't Hate Christmas_ played.

"You even got Doof to record his song about how he doesn't hate Christmas for the CD?" Perry said incredulously. "Guys, he says in the song that he's evil."

"I honestly think that nobody'll know who he is," Ferb said, holding the angel above Phineas's head while the redhead jumped up to try and get it.

"But won't his friends hear his voice saying that he's evil?"

"What friends?"

"OOH SHOTS FIRED!" Phineas hollered.

"Ouch," Priya commented with a grin.

"That was really harsh, Ferb," said Perry.

Ferb smirked and bowed. "Thank you."

Perry snatched the angel from Ferb and put it at the top of the tree. "So what were you doing in Alaska?" he asked conversationally.

"Ferb bet that we couldn't fly to Alaska in the sleigh and be back in time for dinner." Phineas grinned at the memory. "As it turned out, Mom and Dad hadn't made dinner because they were still at the store. So that bet kinda fizzled out."

"Phineas still made me pay out the ten dollars," Ferb said, shaking his head.

"There," Perry said, stepping back to admire the tree. "Now all that's left is some tinsel and lights and the tree will be ready for Christmas."

"Yeah, about that…" Everyone looked at Phineas. "I kinda dropped the lights in Alaska too," the redhead admitted sheepishly.

"What on Earth were the Christmas tree lights doing in Alaska with you and the sleigh?" Perry asked. "Which is a question I never thought I would ever ask."

Phineas turned away. "No comment."

Ferb leapt on his brother and started tickling him. "Tell us!"

Phineas wriggled and screeched but Ferb would not let him go. Priya took Perry's hand and lead him away from the two boys. "Leave them to calm down," she said. "Let's go make some cookies."

"Okay," Perry said, following her into the kitchen.

As they got all the ingredients and equipment out of the various cupboards, Priya turned to look at Perry.

"I need to tell you something," she said.

Perry had started mixing the butter and sugar together. "Okay, shoot."

"I-I'm pregnant."

Perry's hand jerked and the wooden spoon went flying. Perry ignored the clatter as it hit the ground and he stared at his mate. "W-what?"

"The egg will come in about two weeks," she said.

"That's great, Priy! So…why didn't you tell me before?" Perry asked.

"I was scared," Priya confessed. "I didn't have a mother or even a mother figure and I was worried that I wouldn't be a good parent."

"Priya, you're going to be an amazing mother," Perry said, putting his sugar-covered arm around his mate. "It doesn't matter that you didn't have a mom growing up. We're going to be the best parents any child could ever ask for."

Priya smiled. "So what should we call it?"

"You want to think of names already?" Perry retrieved the wooden spoon and cleaned it, before going back to mixing.

"Why not?"

"Why not indeed." Perry thought for a moment. "If it's a girl, let's call her Hazel."

"Hazel?"

"After the colour of your eyes."

Priya blushed. "Alright. And if it's a boy, let's call him Teddy, after Theodore."

"Where _is_ that bear?" Perry asked, casually adding more sugar. "I haven't seen him since the retreat five months ago."

"I think I left him at Janet's place," Priya answered. "She still owns the apartment so she didn't have anything moved out. We can get him later, if you want."

"Nah, he's probably giving life to that old apartment."

"You haven't even been there before," Priya pointed out.

"Touché. Oh look, it's snowing!"

Perry and Priya ran to look out the window. As he did, Perry accidentally knocked over the sugar container. "That's awesome! We're going to have a white Christmas!"

"That's if it settles," Perry said cynically.

Priya threw the roll of paper towel at him. "Clean up your mess, Mr Cynical."

"Why do you keep changing my name?" Perry grinned as he ducked a second missile. He picked up the cloth and began cleaning up the spilt sugar.

But despite his comment, he knew it would settle. It always did. Their first Christmas together was going to be absolutely perfect.


	2. The Biological Attack

When Perry went into OWCA, quite late, the next day, he didn't expect to find it as he did. Everything looked normal except the agents, who all showed signs of external injury, from bruises to cuts to black eyes. Perry headed straight for Major Monogram's office and knocked.

When he was given permission to enter, he found the major, Carl, and Apollo Hastings, OWCA's main doctor. All of them were injured.

"Ah, Agent P," Major Monogram, who had a black eye, said. "I imagine you've seen the damage?"

"Yeah, what happened here?"

"LOVEMUFFIN sent us a little gift," Carl said. The intern also had a black eye and he kept rubbing his side. Perry assumed he had an injury there too.

"A biological infection," Apollo took over. He had a massive bruise over his left eye, though it wasn't a black eye, and a bleeding cut through his arm. "It's a special one that attacks cells and opens up old wounds. Not bullet or stab wounds, but minor injuries. That's why nobody's got anything worse than black eyes or bruises."

"Except me," Carl said, wincing in pain as he rubbed his side.

"Yes, for some reason Carl's been more majorly affected," Apollo said.

"Two years ago I broke some of my ribs," explained Carl. It seemed that he was having trouble talking. "For some reason, the biological weapon re-broke them, if that's possible."

"I didn't think it _was_ possible," Apollo admitted. "But I've examined him and that's the only possible-."

At that moment, Carl gave a groan and keeled over. Monogram managed to catch his arm before the intern hit the floor. Apollo slung Carl's arm over his shoulder and supported the half-conscious intern out of the room. Monogram shook his head. "There's been some reports of more major injuries," he said. "Like Agent Cassie, who broke nearly every bone in her body, and Agent Pinky."

"Pinky?" repeated Perry, fear rising in him. "Is he okay?"

"Apollo's got most of the more severely injured agents in the medical bay, including him," Monogram answered. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I'm worried about COWCA. Usually David, that's Captain Colophon, and I exchange calls every Sunday. But I haven't heard anything in at least three weeks. I'm especially worried about Monty because usually he comes home for weekends but again I haven't even heard from him in about three weeks."

"You think it's connected to the attack?" Perry asked.

Monogram shrugged. "It's possible. I don't want to rule anything out at this point but until we know more, we'll just have to focus on LOVEMUFFIN."

"Could it be someone other than LOVEMUFFIN?" Perry asked, thinking that Major Monogram could have jumped to that conclusion. He really didn't want his nemesis to have something to do with this.

His hopes were dashed when Monogram shook his head. "The biological weapon was sent in a missile that was shot through our window. The LOVEMUFFIN logo was on the missile."

"It could be someone who stole the missile," Perry said desperately. "Or someone could have printed the logo on a missile of their own."

"Why would someone do that?" asked Monogram doubtfully.

"Someone could be trying to frame LOVEMUFFIN."

"Again, why would someone do that?"

"B-because…" Perry struggled to answer that.

Monogram sighed. "Agent P, I know you like to see the best in people, but even Heinz Doofenshmirtz has a dark side that he doesn't show you."

"But I thought Doof wasn't the leader of LOVEMUFFIN anymore," Perry said. "He quit when he joined OWCA."

"Remember how well _that_ went," Monogram said sarcastically.

Perry paused, remembering. Doof had put the lives of his team in danger in order to complete his own objective. It had actually led to one of the team's death.

"I can't condone what he did," Perry began. "Especially because of what it did to Maggie. But surely-?"

"I know what you're going to say," interrupted Monogram. "But just because he isn't the leader of LOVEMUFFIN, doesn't mean he's not a member, and therefore part of this."

Perry looked down at the ground. He desperately wanted to believe that Doof wasn't part of this, but his subconscious mind was telling him that it made sense.

"So when was the attack?" he asked finally.

"About half an hour before you came," Monogram answered. "Speaking of which, where were you?"

"A little late…" Perry blushed. "Sorry."

"Usually I'd punish you in some way, but I'm just relieved I don't have one more injured agent on my hands." Monogram sighed again. "Just make sure your report's on my desk by the end of today."

…

Perry slumped into his office chair and lay back in it. "Oh man," he sighed.

On his way to his office, every single agent he had met had some kind of visible wound. It had unnerved him thoroughly.

After finishing the report, he decided to visit the medical bay and check on the more seriously hurt agents.

When he got there, he saw that the situation was worse than he originally feared. Instead of there being only four or five agents with bad injuries, Perry counted approximately seventeen. There were various injuries from broken bones to spinal injuries to organ damage. As he stared down at the broken and still form of a tabby cat agent—Cassie, he realised with a jerk—he felt a surge of hatred for LOVEMUFFIN. Poor Cassie was clearly in a lot of pain; she kept twitching and shuddering. Perry put his hand on hers for a minute or so before moving away. He found Pinky opposite Cassie; the poor Chihuahua had broken his ribs in a fight with his nemesis before, and this was clearly the injury that came back to plague him. His left arm was resting on his chest and the other was clutching his stomach as if he was about to be sick.

"Pinky?"

Hearing his name made Pinky's eyes open. "Hey Perry." He coughed once. "Don't ever break your ribs."

"I have before," Perry said. "At the retreat, remember? The skydiving episode? Where I fell thirty feet?"

"Sorry, that was a bit untactful of me."

"Don't apologise," Perry told his friend. "You're the one in the hospital bed."

"Yeah." Pinky grinned weakly. "So how's life?"

"Better than yours at the moment, that's for sure."

"That's really making me feel better."

"Sorry."

The two mammals were silent for a minute. "How's Priya?"

Perry couldn't stop the grin from coming. "Pregnant."

"Seriously?" Pinky's eyes widened. "That's great, Perry. You both deserve it. Tell Priya I said congratulations."

"I will."

At that moment, a human nurse bustled over and adjusted Pinky's pillows. "He needs rest now," she told Perry.

Perry nodded. "Sure." He put his hand on Pinky's. "Rest up, buddy. I'll see you soon."

Pinky nodded sleepily.

Perry left his friend's side and spotted Apollo staring out of the window with his head in his hands and his elbows resting on the windowsill. Perry approached the doctor and joined him at the window. "Everything okay, doc?"

Apollo sighed tiredly. "No, Perry. This only happened two hours ago and I've never been more rushed off my feet. The problem is: none of the medication I prescribe, that would usually work, is working."

"Why is that?" Perry asked, alarmed.

"I don't know." Apollo seemed only half awake. "The only medication that _is_ working is the painkiller, so at least I can lessen my patients' suffering a little." He closed his eyes. "It's killing me; not being able to do anything to help them. I've always known exactly what to do in each situation I come up against, but this is multiple situations thrown at me at once, all stemmed from unnatural circumstances."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Perry asked.

Apollo managed a smile as he looked at Perry. "Nah. Me and the nurses should be able to handle it. But thanks for the offer, Perry. I really appreciate it."

"Anytime."

Perry turned and began walking away.

"By the way," Apollo called after him.

Perry stopped.

"When's Priya due?"

"Two weeks," Perry replied, before he fully realised what he was just asked. "Hey, how do you know?"

"I didn't become OWCA's head medical officer for nothing, Perry," Apollo laughed. "I could tell when I saw her yesterday. Even egg-laying mammals have signs."

Perry grinned, despite himself, and left the medical bay. That grin soon disappeared and was replaced by anger. If for nothing else, Perry was going to make LOVEMUFFIN pay for the pain and suffering his friends were going through.


	3. What's He Hiding?

Perry tried to concentrate on his work but he just couldn't. Eventually, he headed home early. He sat down on the sofa with Priya, Phineas, and Ferb, and told them about what had happened.

"So LOVEMUFFIN used a biological weapon that reopens old wounds," Ferb summed up.

"That's pretty much the gist of it," Perry said. "Our poor doctor's rushed off his feet trying to deal with it. Not to mention the patients. I saw Pinky earlier. He broke his ribs a while back, and now that came back to bite him. Almost literally. He's in quite a bit of pain, but that's one of the milder cases." He addressed Priya: "You know Cassie?"

"Yes," Priya said slowly. "Cassie the Cat."

"Broke nearly all the bones in her body."

Priya gasped. Phineas and Ferb exchanged a shocked look.

"That's how bad the worst is," Perry sighed. "I just feel like I need to find LOVEMUFFIN and hit the-the…" Perry stopped before he said a swear word. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I understand." Priya put her hand on her mate's shoulder.

"But where are they?" Phineas asked. "I mean, you said LOVEMUFFIN don't have a defined headquarters, right?"

"Right," Perry answered. "That'll make it tough to track them down but at least there's always someone I can start with."

…

 _Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated!_

Perry wondered how the Slacks knew when to play the jingle. It always played as soon as Perry approached, but unless they were staring out the window during every hour of every day just in case he was coming, they had no way of knowing, especially today, because he was coming into the building from the bottom.

The doorman didn't even blink when Perry entered. He supposed it was a mark of how often he came to visit his nemesis.

He knocked on the door and received the usual, "It's open!" call from Doof.

He entered warily, expecting some kind of trap to scoop him up. But nothing happened so he went further into the room. Doof came out of the bedroom, dressed in his usual pharmacist garb. "Perry the Platypus? I wasn't expecting you today. I thought we'd given up the whole "daily scheme" thing."

"We have," Perry said regretfully. He would never admit it to anybody but he often missed the regular schemes. "I just need to know something. Are you a member of LOVEMUFFIN?"

"Uh, why?"

Doof looked uncomfortable, confirming Perry's fears. "You are, aren't you?"

"Fine. Yes I am. What of it?"

"What of it?" Perry repeated. "I mean that today, LOVEMUFFIN sent a biological weapon into our HQ!"

"What of it?" Doof said again.

Perry began to get angry. He took a step towards Doof, who automatically took a step backwards. "I've seen that look," he said nervously. "It's your "I'm going to kill the first thing I see even if it's a puppy" look."

"Your biological weapon caused intense pain and suffering to ninety-five percent of our agents!"

"Wh-what?" Doof looked confused, which threw Perry off guard. "Rodney said…he swore it wouldn't…I thought it was a scare tactic…!"

"Well it wasn't!" Perry snapped. "It actually caused a lot of pain! You honestly had no idea?"

"N-no! Believe me, Perry the Platypus, I threaten but I don't actually hurt. C'mon, you've known me for years."

Perry began to relax. He knew it was true; in all the years he had known Doof, the evil scientist hadn't ever maliciously hurt anyone. "So what did Rodney say to you?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Heinz Doofenshmirtz-!"

"I'm serious!" Doof backed up another step. "I may not have been aware of the biological weapon plot but I'm still a member of LOVEMUFFIN. I can't just give away all their secrets."

Perry glared at his nemesis but he knew there was nothing he could do. Doof was right; Perry couldn't make him tell the platypus agent anything. With one final _I'm watching you_ gesture, Perry left the room.


	4. Guilt

_He couldn't help the tears as he stormed through his door and into his bedroom. He furiously threw the suitcase at his bed but it missed and hit the floor with a horrible sound, bouncing open. The yellow-banded fedora fluttered out. He picked it up, studied it once, and threw it out the window, feeling the anger surge through him. However, the anger was soon replaced by overwhelming guilt and grief._

 _He went to his wardrobe and pulled out a pristine white lab coat. He held it in his hands and went to the mirror, staring at his reflection and wondering how things had gone so wrong. How he could have been so stupid and wrong and idiotic and selfish and…_

 _He slipped the lab coat on, and from that moment, Heinz the Ocelot, agent of OWCA, reverted back to Doctor Heinz Doofenshmirtz, evil scientist._

" _I'm so sorry, Maggie…" was the one thing that came out of his mouth before he collapsed against the mirror, shaking and crying at the thought that would haunt him for the rest of his life: the thought that, through one single moment of pure selfishness, he had ended a life._


	5. Apollo

Apollo often had to work late. It was one of the perks of being OWCA's main doctor. He usually didn't mind, but usually he wouldn't have so many patients to look after.

Nearly all his patients were asleep; the clock on the wall said it was a few minutes past midnight. Apollo was just clearing up the medication bottles on the bedside table next to Pinky's bed when he heard a small sneeze. He turned his head and saw Cassie, who was sitting up in bed. He carried the tray over to Cassie's bed and began clearing up the bottles on her bedside. "How are you feeling, Cassie?"

"It hurts," Cassie whimpered. "Everywhere."

Apollo felt his heart ache. "I know it does, Cassie. Do you need another painkiller?"

To his surprise, Cassie answered, "No thanks, Apollo. When the painkiller wears off, the pain is really bad. At the moment, it's kind of manageable."

Apollo stroked the cat agent's head. "You're being very brave, Cassie. Now try and get some sleep."

Cassie nodded and closed her eyes.

Apollo took the tray of bottles to a table and began unloading them onto the table. All of a sudden, something passed behind him, making him turn. "Is someone there?" Apollo called nervously.

"Apollo?" came Cassie's voice.

"It's nothing, Cassie. Go back to sleep."

Apollo tried to keep his voice from shaking, so as to not scare Cassie. But he knew he had seen something.

Rolling up the sleeves of his long white doctor's coat, Apollo went to the door of the medical bay and peered down the corridor. He saw a dark figure standing in the shadows. "Wh-who's there?" Apollo called, trying to sound brave.

The figure stepped out of the shadows. His white lab coat and epaulettes glowed in the semi-darkness. His face held his usual look of scorn. Apollo recognised him immediately. "Y-you're Professor von Roddenstein…!"

"You can call me Rodney."

"I don't want to call you anything," Apollo said, nervously backing up a step. "How did you even get in here?"

"I walked," Rodney replied smugly.

"I mean into OWCA headquarters."

"Oh, Apollo. You can't expect the leader of LOVEMUFFIN to reveal all his secrets, can you?"

Apollo glared at the evil scientist. "What are you doing here?"

"Let's just say…I'm looking for medical assistance."

Apollo's eyes looked Rodney up and down. "You don't look hurt."

"Oh, I'm not. I never said I was looking for medical assistance for myself."

Rodney suddenly ran towards Apollo, who stumbled backwards into the medical bay and fell over. Rodney jumped with the intention of attacking Apollo but the doctor was able to roll out of the way. He scrambled to his feet and backed up against the metal table with the tray on it. Rodney stood in front of him with a gun in his hand. Apollo pressed himself against the table in horror as Rodney aimed the gun at him. Nobody could help him. Apollo now wished he hadn't been such a dutiful doctor; he had given all his patients sleep medicine.

Well, almost all.

"C-Cassie!" Apollo yelled. "Cassie!"

But Cassie didn't move. It looked like she was asleep. Apollo cursed in his head.

"Looks like you're out of time," said Rodney smugly.

Apollo glared defiantly at the evil scientist, though he was sweating and his heart was pounding.

Everything happened at once. There was a loud bang and a puff of smoke. Instantly after that, Apollo felt both pain and blood erupt from his right side. Rodney had shot him. Apollo collapsed to his knees, trying to think through the pain. His left hand automatically flew to cover the wound; he had to block the wound to prevent too much blood loss and, as he had nothing else within reach, his hand would have to do for now.

But soon it all became too much. He fell forwards onto his stomach, with his hand still pressed against the wound. Using his last bit of strength, Apollo reached with his right hand towards a piece of cloth lying on the ground, with the intention of using it as a bandage. That was the last thing that he did before the blackness took over.


	6. The Beginning of the End

At about eight a.m. the next morning, Perry and Priya arrived at HQ and went straight to the medical bay to visit Pinky and Cassie. When they got there, Major Monogram was there with Carl, and the two were apparently looking at something on the ground. Perry approached them.

"What happened here?" he asked.

Monogram and Carl moved aside for Perry to see what was on the ground: blood.

"Apollo's gone," Carl said, his face pale. "We've confirmed that this is his blood."

Perry stared down at the patch of red. "When did this happen?"

"Last night," came the small voice of Cassie.

Perry got up and went to her besides, while Priya went to the other side. "You saw?" she asked.

Cassie nodded. "Everything. A LOVEMUFFIN scientist came and shot Apollo before making off with him. Apollo called to me for help but I had to pretend I was asleep or the evil guy would have killed me for being a witness."

"Who was the guy?" questioned Priya.

"He told Apollo his name in the hallway but I didn't hear. He was bald and he wore a white lab coat with grey shoulder things."

"Did he wear glasses?" Perry asked urgently.

Cassie managed to nod.

"Rodney," Perry said in disgust. "Rodney kidnapped Apollo."

"What could Rodney want with him?" Priya asked worriedly.

"There's one more thing you should know," Cassie wheezed, bringing the attention back to her. "He referred to himself as the leader of LOVEMUFFIN."

Perry turned to face Major Monogram. "Did you hear that?"

The major nodded. "Yes, I heard. So Heinz is not the leader of LOVEMUFFIN after all; Rodney is. This is the final straw." He turned to Carl. "I have a task for you if you're up to it."

Carl looked very not-up-to-it but he nodded determinedly. "I'll do what I can, sir."

"I need you to send out a memo to all agents and staff, whether they're at home, on a mission, or on site. As of today, OWCA is at war with LOVEMUFFIN."

Perry looked up as Carl left, shocked by what his boss had just said. "Sir!"

"Agent P, I can't risk anything else like this happening."

"But sir, even more agents could get hurt or killed in a war," Priya objected.

"Then at least they'll get hurt or killed while fighting for the side of good." There was a steely look in Monogram's eye that Perry had never seen before. "The biological attack was one thing but actually coming onto our premises and shooting and kidnapping one of our staff? That's going too far, even for LOVEMUFFIN."

Monogram shot a worried look at the blood on the floor, and it was then that Perry realised why his superior was so worked up about this. It wasn't just that LOVEMUFFIN had broken into OWCA premises and kidnapped someone, it was the fact that LOVEMUFFIN had kidnapped Apollo, one of the only people who was absolutely crucial to OWCA. In fact, Apollo and his sister Artemis had both been working at OWCA for longer than Perry had been alive.

Perry suddenly realised something. "Does Artemis know?" he asked Monogram, who nodded.

"She was the one who came when Cassie called. She went back to her office because it was either that, or she was going to go and tear LOVEMUFFIN apart. As amusing as that would have been, Artemis isn't a fighter. She's a counsellor. So we sent her back to her office. She might need some counselling of her own, or at least someone to talk to."

Perry caught his meaning. He saluted his superior officer and, taking Priya's hand, left the room.

…

Artemis was the only counsellor in OWCA. There were at least three counsellors in COWCA but Major Monogram had only felt the need to employ one. She had an office on the top floor of the OWCA building. Attached to that small office was a consulting room, where Artemis took her patients to have maximum confidentiality.

Perry and Priya looked through the glass wall of the office and saw Artemis sat at her desk. She seemed to be typing something on her computer. Her long and smooth hair was exactly the same colour as her twin brother's: auburn. She wore a similar garb to Apollo, from the grey trousers to the black sweater to the white lab coat. Her young face was pretty; only her eyes betrayed the intense worry and fear she was feeling for her twin. She must have been very distracted because she didn't notice the two platypuses until Perry knocked on the glass.

She looked up. "Oh, my apologies. Hi Perry, Priya. What can I do for you?"

"It's more like what we can do for you," replied Priya with a sideways glance at Perry. "We were told-".

"Sorry to interrupt but are you expecting?"

Priya looked thrown by the question. "Uh, yes. Two weeks."

Artemis looked like she was expecting that answer. "Sorry, carry on."

"We know you must be worried about Apollo," Priya tried again. "We wanted to know if there was anything we could do for you."

Artemis smiled weakly and stood up. "That's really nice of you both, but unless you can get Apollo back, there's not much you can do. But thanks."

She left the office and walked past the two platypuses, two disappear round the corner. Perry and Priya glanced at each other with sympathy. They knew that Artemis was hurting more than she let on.


	7. Heinz's Fatal Mistake

_Chuckling to himself, he climbed up the tall structure that he had placed on top of City Hall. "No more Rodney," he kept muttering to himself. "One blast and no more Rodney."_

 _The voice came over his radio. "Heinz, what on Earth do you think you're doing?"_

" _Climbing," Heinz replied, climbing higher until he was on top of the structure._

" _Come down!"_

" _No, Perry the Platypus." Heinz pulled out a remote control. "I don't think you realise what this evil man did."_

" _You were evil too, once!" pointed out the platypus, who was standing at the base of City Hall, staring up at his teammate. "Just come down!"_

" _He almost killed the world several times." Heinz checked that the missile was primed. "He needs to be taught a lesson. One that he'll never forget."_

" _You're going to KILL him! He won't be able to remember the lesson because he'll be DEAD!"_

" _He deserves it."_

" _He doesn't deserve it!" Perry shouted. "No matter what he's done, nobody deserves being blown to pieces! You're just being selfish and arrogant, believing that you need to kill Rodney in order to keep your ego intact. It doesn't matter what he's done, killing Rodney is not the right way!"_

" _No more radio contact."_

 _Heinz took out his earpiece, hearing one final desperate protest from his former nemesis, someone he had looked up to when he first joined OWCA, before his finger hovered over the button. Some part of his brain knew this wasn't right. But at the same time, his whole body was shaking with fury. Rodney had humiliated him, hurt him, and worst of all, tried to destroy the Earth many times. He deserved it._

 _Down below him, he could hear Perry shouting to Harry, Maggie, and Karen, ordering one of them to stop him. But he knew they wouldn't get to him in time._

 _He pressed the button, launching the missile. At the same moment, something bright red flew into the missile's path. "MAGGIE!" screamed Heinz, but it was too late._

 _The missile hit the macaw in the chest and exploded. Red feathers flew everywhere. Even from the height he was at, he could hear both Perry and Harry's voices screaming Maggie's name. Heinz leant forward and reached out, as if trying to reach the macaw, to make sure that she was alright._

 _But it was clear that Maggie the Macaw was not alright._

 _Heinz suddenly lost his grip on the top of the structure and fell. He let out one scream before he fell silent. He knew that this was nature's way of punishing him for ending his friend's life. He was going to die, just as he had killed Maggie. He had killed Maggie. He kept repeating that aloud to punish himself. He wanted his last thoughts to be of the terrible thing he had done._

 _But something caught Heinz's foot just before he hit the ground. Heinz looked up and saw that Harry was leaning over from Perry's flying car, clutching Heinz's foot. The hyena's face was marked with tears but he looked determined as he let go of Heinz, who fell about five feet before he hit the concrete at Perry the Platypus's feet, fairly uninjured._

" _Why did he save me?" Heinz croaked without looking up._

" _I told him to."_

 _Heinz then looked up at the grief-stricken teal platypus. "B-but why? I killed Maggie!"_

" _I didn't want to lose another friend," was Perry's quiet reply._

 _Which made Heinz feel ten times worse._

 _Naturally when they got back to HQ, Major Monogram blew up in Heinz's face and fired him. He confiscated Heinz's fedora and told him to pack his bags and leave._

 _So Heinz dragged himself to his small OWCA room and packed a suitcase. He had just packed everything up when he spotted a photo on his bedside table. He picked it up. It was a photo of Heinz, Maggie, Harry, and Karen on their graduation day. They were all smiling, clutching their brand new fedoras with the black hat bands. Heinz threw the photo aside and left the room._

 _Unbeknownst to him, someone watched him leave and then entered the room. The teal platypus picked up the photo and began to cry._

…

 _He couldn't help the tears as he stormed through his door and into his bedroom. He furiously threw the suitcase at his bed but it missed and hit the floor with a horrible sound, bouncing open. The yellow-banded fedora fluttered out. He picked it up, studied it once, and threw it out the window, feeling the anger surge through him. However, the anger was soon replaced by overwhelming guilt and grief._

 _He went to his wardrobe and pulled out a pristine white lab coat. He held it in his hands and went to the mirror, staring at his reflection and wondering how things had gone so wrong. How he could have been so stupid and wrong and idiotic and selfish and…_

 _He slipped the lab coat on, and from that moment, Heinz the Ocelot, agent of OWCA, reverted back to Doctor Heinz Doofenshmirtz, evil scientist._

" _I'm so sorry, Maggie…" was the one thing that came out of his mouth before he collapsed against the mirror, shaking and crying at the thought that would haunt him for the rest of his life: the thought that, through one single moment of pure selfishness, he had ended a life._


	8. Two More Victims

Alone in his office, Perry allowed himself to slip back into the horrible memory of two years ago. Seeing Doofenshmirtz again had triggered the memory, though he had avoided thinking about it until now. He knelt down by the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet and opened out, pulling out the singed fedora with the black hat band, all that had been found of Maggie the Macaw apart from a few red feathers. Major Monogram had given her a posthumous award of bravery, for her ultimate sacrifice to protect the life of another.

Perry couldn't count how many times he had hidden outside the windows of Heinz Doofenshmirtz and Rodney von Roddenstein, thinking about ending their lives. Though his intention hadn't been to kill her, Doof was the one who actually killed Maggie. However, Rodney didn't know how lucky he was. Perry hated the fact that she had died to save that unworthy monster. He clutched the fedora close to his chest and cried. He wished his friend's death wasn't still affecting him this badly after this long.

Someone knocked. Perry turned to see Priya, a sympathetic look on her face. "Is that Maggie's?" she asked, referring to the fedora.

Priya hadn't actually been around when Maggie died but she had found Perry crying in the bathroom on the two year anniversary of her death and he had explained.

Perry nodded, trying in vain to wipe the tears away. "It's been nearly two and a half years," he sniffled. "And yet I still can't stop thinking about it. Maggie should have had a long career and an even longer life but…" Perry smiled through his tears. "…she was robbed of it because of her stupid selfless heart."

Priya pulled Perry into a hug. "I didn't know Maggie, but from what you've told me of her, she made her own call."

Perry nodded. "I know but it hurts. I keep feeling like I could have done something to prevent it."

"Don't you dare do that to yourself," Priya snapped, her sudden savagery taking Perry by surprise. "Once you start thinking like that, you'll be stuck in a rut. The first thing you need to do is accept that you probably couldn't have done anything because you can't fly like Maggie could."

"That's making me feel better," said Perry dryly.

Priya continued as if Perry hadn't spoken. "You also have to stop blaming people for it. Yes, Doof shouldn't have done what he did. Yes, Rodney was the target. But neither of them are to blame."

"Really? 'Cuz I'm a hundred percent sure it was Doof's finger that pushed the launch button."

"Maggie made her own call," Priya said again. "It was her own choice to make and nobody else's."

Perry nodded again and stood up, putting Maggie's fedora back in his drawer. "Thanks, Priy. For making me feel better."

"Hey, what are mates for?"

"Well, not usually letting their mates cry about their dead friends," Perry grinned, though even mentioning the word "dead" made him really sad.

Priya swatted his arm. "I meant-oh, never mind."

"I know what you meant."

Perry fell silent, his mind falling back on Maggie. Priya must have sensed this because she grabbed his arm. "Come on, Perry. It's time for date night."

"Priya, we haven't had a date night for weeks."

"Exactly. That's why we're going to a movie. Objection?"

"Not at all."

…

"I still can't believe Phineas and Ferb made a sequel to _Doof Dynasty_ ," Perry said as they came out of the cinema and began walking down the snowy and Christmas light-lit street. They were walking on all fours, so as to not arouse suspicion. Their chatter was lost in the busy crowd. "More to the point, I still can't believe Phineas and Ferb made a sequel to _Doof Dynasty_ and I didn't know about it until we got here two hours ago."

Priya laughed. "I really liked it," she said. "Doofus Khan is a really hilarious character."

"I personally liked the princess the most," Perry said. "In the first one, I didn't like her so much because she was too much like a damsel in distress. But in this one, I don't think anyone expected her to don armour and fight alongside the boys."

Priya sighed. "I cried at Phineas's death scene," she said.

"The thing that made it the most sad was the combination of the sad music and Ferb's devastated face," Perry said. "I think Phineas and Ferb—our Phineas and Ferb—have a bright career in film-making ahead of them."

Priya happened to glance behind her and said, "Speak of the devil."

Perry also turned and saw Phineas and Ferb running to catch up with them. "Hey guys," Phineas said. "Did you see the movie?"

"Yeah we did," Priya answered.

"How did you keep it so secret from me?" Perry asked. "You know I love your movies."

"We made pretty much all of it when you were on your retreat thing a few months ago," Ferb answered.

Perry raised his eyebrow.

"We didn't plan it like that!" Phineas defended himself. "Honest!"

They began crossing the road. Perry didn't notice that Phineas had stopped to retie his shoelace until they reached the other side. By then, it was too late. Perry yelled Phineas's name but the redhead didn't hear. All Perry's attention was on Phineas as the yellow mini slammed into him and sent him literally flying. Perry didn't see him land because, abandoning his mindless pet façade, Perry had started towards his owner but stopped when heard Priya's cry. He spun round and saw two men in white lab coats snatch Priya up and begin to carry her down the street. "PRIYA!" shouted Perry.

He took off after them down the road but soon they got into a van and drove away, leaving Perry to stop in defeat. He stared in anguish after the truck that had taken his mate, before running back to check on Phineas. To his surprise, Phineas seemed fine. Ferb had propped him up against a potted tree, and other than a large bruise on his chest, he didn't seem to have any serious injuries.

"I'm going to take him home," Ferb said to Perry as he slung Phineas's arm over his shoulder and helped him to his feet. "You might want to go back into your pet mode."

Perry nodded, dropped to all fours, and unfocused his eyes.

…

When they got home, Linda and Lawrence were still at the shop. Candace and Stacy were just coming out of the living room, however, and Candace freaked out when she saw Phineas. _"What happened?"_

"A car hit him," answered Ferb, going for the stairs.

Candace blocked his way. "And you didn't take Phin to the hospital because…?"

"He's not that badly hurt," the British boy answered, rolling up his brother's shirt.

"But why isn't he?" Candace asked, looking at the big black and blue bruise. "You said he got hit by a car. Why isn't he hurt worse?"

Ferb shrugged.

"That's a pretty big bruise," commented Stacy over Candace's shoulder.

"Not helping, Stace." Candace considered Ferb's pleading look for a moment longer and then stepped out the way. "Okay, but if Mom and Dad ask, you're explaining."

Perry, still on all fours, followed Ferb up the stairs. The British boy lay the semi-conscious Phineas on his bed, and Perry settled down on the bed beside him.

"Candace raised a good point," Perry said to Ferb. "We both saw the car hit him but I was distracted with…with Priya." He swallowed, trying to momentarily forget about his mate so he could concentrate on what had happened to Phineas. "So how did he escape further injury?"

Ferb glanced at the sleeping Phineas. "You saw, didn't you?" Perry accused, seeing his facial expression.

Ferb nodded slowly. "This brown animal caught him before he hit the ground. The bruise he got was from where the car hit him. He's really lucky it wasn't-."

"Don't change the subject," interrupted Perry. "What was the animal?"

Ferb sighed. "It was a dark brown platypus, okay?"

Perry considered this. Apart from Priya, he didn't know any other platypuses. This platypus couldn't be part of OWCA, or Perry would have at least heard of him or her.

 _Okay, that's it._ Perry couldn't put it off anymore. His pregnant mate had been kidnapped, and he wasn't going to let anything stop him from getting her back. He stood up on two legs and hopped off the bed.

"Where are you going?" Ferb called after him as he went to the window and put on a jetpack.

"Back to OWCA," replied Perry. "My mate is gone and I need to do something about it."

With that, he ignited the jetpack and flew away, leaving Ferb to tend to his injured brother. As he flew, Perry thought back to the time of the incident. The LOVEMUFFIN logo was on the side of the van. Now that he knew Rodney was in charge, Perry knew that Rodney wouldn't allow the logo to be on the side of the truck—because of the idiocy of making themselves publically known—unless they were baiting Perry and OWCA. The biological weapon attack had been a heartless yet standard attack, but now LOVEMUFFIN had made it personal by kidnapping Apollo and Priya. Despite it being Christmas, Perry wasn't going to let them get away with it; he was going to get his mate and his friend back even if he died trying.


	9. Perry's Mission and Priya's Fear

Major Monogram looked increasingly more worried as Perry told him what happened. "That car wasn't a coincidence," he mused.

"Sorry, sir?"

"I mean, didn't it seem coincidental that while young Phineas was in danger, LOVEMUFFIN chose that moment to attack? Unless they were lying in wait for you and the car was a happy coincidence for them, which is very unlikely, I think that LOVEMUFFIN caused the car to be there at that moment so you would be distracted. The question is: why does LOVEMUFFIN want Agent Priya?"

Perry fidgeted.

"You look quite rattled, Agent P," Monogram observed. "Is there anything else bothering you apart from Agent Priya and Phineas?"

"Actually, sir, yes there is. How many platypus agents are there in OWCA?"

Monogram looked like he wasn't expecting that question. "Uh, well, of course there's you and Agent Priya. Then there's Agent Reggie, who retired last year…"

Perry had forgotten about Reggie. However, that platypus was a shade of blue darker than Perry, and would certainly not have been mistaken for a brown platypus. "Anyone else?"

"I don't think so, Agent P. Why?"

"Just…nothing, sir."

"Are you sure?"

For some reason, Perry didn't want Monogram to know about the brown platypus who had saved Phineas. "Yes, sir."

"All right, then. Dismissed."

Perry saluted and turned towards the door as Monogram sat back down at his desk. As Perry got to the door, he remembered a question that he had been meaning to ask his superior.

"Um, sir?"

"Yes, Agent P?"

Perry hesitated. "Where's everyone else? The whole complex is empty."

Monogram closed his eyes briefly and sighed. "Unfortunately, it seems that the biological infection is getting worse. Now, half of all the agents here are incapacitated in the hospital. And with no Apollo to treat them…Carl's also in the hospital." Monogram sighed again. "He's in a lot of pain, the poor kid." He paused. "The other half is investigating an abandoned warehouse on the edge of Danville. We think it might be connected to LOVEMUFFIN because they've used it before."

"Where are Terry and Peter?"

"Agent Peter the Panda and Agent T are part of the half who is investigating the warehouse," Monogram answered. "Oh by the way," he added. "I need you to head over to the warehouse too. We need all the available help we can get."

Perry saluted and headed out.

…

Priya had been pulling at the bars of her cage for at least two hours now, with no give. It was quite dim in the empty room; there was just one dim bulb hanging from the ceiling and no windows. Priya's medium sized cage faced the door, which gave her a good view of anyone coming in.

All of a sudden, pain seized her abdomen. _Oh, God, no. Not now! NOT NOW! Don't come now, this is the worst possible place and time!_

She gave a muted wail; she couldn't let LOVEMUFFIN know that she was giving birth or they'd take away the baby. If someone came in now, she'd be screwed.

"Are you all right?" asked a familiar voice from the shadowy corner.

Priya didn't know if this person was a friendly or a hostile so she managed to say, "I'm fine," back.

"You don't sound it," said the dry voice. "Trust me, I'm a doctor. I know the sound of a female giving birth, even when she's trying her hardest to mute the sound."

This last sentence allowed Priya to place the voice. "Apollo!" she gasped.

"Based on my memories, you must be Priya," came Apollo's voice. "Considering that you're giving birth during the right frame of time from when I last saw you to now."

Through the contractions, Priya squinted into the dimmer corner and managed to make out Apollo's form. He wasn't in a cage; he was slumped in the corner with his head back, his eyes only just open, and his left hand covering his right side. His skin was almost albino pale. "Oh, Apollo…are you al-." She broke off with a muted yelp of pain.

"It'll be over in a minute," Apollo called weakly. "Just keep pushing and breathing. That's the important thing."

Indeed it was all over after a minute, the longest minute of Priya's life. Soon, there was a light yellow egg on the floor next to her.

"You need to incubate it," Apollo told her. "Keep it warm."

So that was what Priya did. She sat on the egg and kept it warm.

Suddenly there was the sound of footsteps outside and a key in a lock. Priya hurriedly lay down and hid the egg under her tail. The person to enter was Doctor Diminutive, looking as small and disgruntled as ever.

He scuttled in and peered closely at the lying down platypus, who hoped and prayed and hoped and prayed that he wouldn't notice the egg.

"You don't look as fat as when we brought you in," he mused.

 _Oh please I'll do anything at all, anything in the world, if you just let him not notice the egg!_ Priya begged in her head. She stared back at Doctor Diminutive. Just like her first mission all those years ago, Priya felt terrified. Sweat trickled down her face. She couldn't think properly. Her heart thudded in her chest. She felt both hot and cold at the same time. Her tail and body were shaking.

A moment later, Doctor Diminutive delivered the second most relieving words she had heard in her life: "Maybe we're not feeding you enough. I'd better tell Rodney."

With that, he turned and scuttled out of the door. Priya didn't relax until she heard the door lock and the footsteps die away. Then she lay her head down on the floor and actually cried with relief.

"That was close," Apollo remarked.

"Wasn't it just?" Priya sighed. "That was terrifying."

 _Oh Perry…please come soon! I don't know how long I can keep this egg a secret…_


	10. The Ambush

Perry met up with Peter and Terry as they explored the warehouse. He decided not to get his friends up to speed right now; they were in the middle of the mission.

The warehouse was very draughty. The corrugated metal walls and leaky corrugated metal roof made Perry wonder if the reason the warehouse was abandoned was because it was such a useless storage space. There were two levels, with a metal twisty staircase up to the upper floor. All the other agents were exploring the bigger downstairs area, whereas Perry, Peter, and Terry decided to search the top area.

"What exactly are we supposed to be looking for?" whispered Perry.

"Just any sign of LOVEMUFFIN," Peter replied.

But after ten minutes, they found nothing in the small space. They sat down on an old wooden crate and caught their breath. "This is pointless," Terry stated. "I mean, I know it's a big warehouse, but Major Monogram didn't need to send thirty or so agents. There's nothing here."

"Guys, what's that ticking noise?" Peter asked.

Perry listened hard. He could just about hear a small ticking noise. "I don't know. It's probably not important."

At that moment, Perry caught sight of something on the other side of the top floor. He got up from the crate and searched the area but there was no sign of the shadow that he had seen. As he made his way back to his friends, he caught sight of the label on the crate they were sitting on. _TNT._

 _Oh crud._

Perry tackled his friends over the metal railing. There was no time for anybody to say anything because, as they fell, there was a sudden and massive explosion, which hit the three animal agents into the metal wall. The wall didn't break but it shuddered. The three agents fell to the ground, knocking Peter and Terry out.

All of a sudden, a pink gas flooded into the warehouse, which's door had suddenly closed and locked. Perry held his breath until something dropped in front of him. It was a gas mask, tailored for a platypus's beak. He didn't question it; he put it on and breathed normally. Around him, agents were falling unconscious.

"Come with me if you want to live," said a voice in Perry's ear.

He looked around for a moment before he realised that there was an earpiece in the gas mask.

A rope dropped down in front of him. Again, Perry didn't question it; he just clutched the rope, which was pulled up towards the roof. As he went, he saw people in black gear come flooding through the newly-unlocked doors and begin to throw the unconscious agents into cages. Perry watched as one of the people picked up Peter and Terry by their ankles and threw them into separate cages. It made him feel incredibly sad, but he had no time to dwell on it. He reached the roof and climbed out through a hole.

He came face to face with a dark brown platypus.

…

Even when nobody was in the room with them, Priya kept the egg under her tail. Apollo had told her that it was just as warm under her tail as it was when she was sitting on it.

Apparently, the room they were in used to be a main room of the LOVEMUFFIM HQ, wherever that was; there was a loudspeaker in there, just like the rest of the complex, or so Priya assumed. LOVEMUFFIN had obviously forgotten to take it out when they made the room a prison. Priya and Apollo actually got a lot of information from it.

The latest was Rodney's voice, saying: "Attention LOVEMUFFIN. One of our colleagues, Heinz Doofenshmirtz, has failed in his duty to captured wanted agent Perry the Platypus and has been captured by OWCA."

" _Yes!"_ muttered Priya. "Well done, Perry!"

"In other news, the trap at the warehouse has been sprung. We have compiled a list of names of the agents who have been taken into LOVEMUFFIN custody."

The names were read out. Priya hoped she wouldn't hear Perry's name. She heard "Peter the Panda" and "Terry the Turtle" but not Perry. She felt worried for Peter and Terry, of course, but she was relieved that Perry had avoided capture.

"Do you think Perry will come and rescue us?" Apollo wheezed from the corner.

Priya was getting worried about Apollo. He seemed to be getting worse and worse. He had told her about his capture, including the fact that he was shot. As soon as she was told that, she was able to see the pool of blood that Apollo was sitting in. Apparently, Apollo had not been allowed a bandage.

"Frankly, I don't think they care if I live or die," Apollo had said. "They only captured me to make a statement to OWCA. They don't care what happens to me after that."

Priya wished she could help him; he was clearly in a lot of pain. He seemed to be dying slowly, and that made Priya feel very helpless and sad.

"I hope he will," Priya said in answer to Apollo's question.

There was a pause. "Do you know if the baby's a girl or a boy?" Apollo asked.

"I don't know. An ultrasound wasn't really an option, since the baby was hidden in an X-Ray-proof egg."

"Are you being sarcastic?"

"You're the doctor, you tell me."

That made Apollo chuckle. Priya was glad to see him smile, if only even for a moment.

"What'll you call it?"

Priya answered immediately, "We decided Hazel for a girl, Teddy for a boy."

"Both nice names."

Apollo closed his eyes and was silent. Priya was afraid for ten horrible seconds that he had died, before he muttered, "I think you need to sleep."

"I can't," Priya replied instantly. "I need to be prepared for if anyone comes in."

Apollo paused, and then hit the floor hard. The vibrations came through the floor and gave Priya a fairly strong shock. "OW!"

"Did you feel that?"

"Obviously!"

"Do you think that would wake you up?"

"Oh, I see where you're coming from. I think it probably would, yes."

"Okay, then. If I hear someone coming, I'll do that and it'll wake you up in time."

"Thanks, Apollo."

Priya lay her head on the floor and closed her eyes. Sleep came easily to her. The last thing she heard before she drifted off was Apollo's voice saying, "Sweet dreams."


	11. Apollo's Return

The brown platypus said nothing. He grabbed Perry's wrist and dragged him across the rooftop towards a small floating platform that was parked just off the edge of the roof. They jumped onto that and the brown platypus flew it away. When they were a far enough distance away, Perry found it safe to sit down. The platform was about the size of a single bed, with handlebars at one end of it, which the brown platypus was using to steer the thing.

Perry inspected his saviour. The platypus had a yellow/brown woven cowboy hat-shaped hat on his head and an identically coloured belt with a couple of pockets in it. The platypus himself was about the same size as Perry, and when he turned to face Perry, the teal platypus saw sparkling green eyes. The platform stopped moving and just hovered in the air.

"Put it on hover," the platypus said. He had a Scottish accent, for some reason. "Now, can you tell me what this is all about?"

"First, I think you should tell me who you are," Perry said.

The platypus raised an eyebrow. "Eh, fair enough. The name's Ohio."

"You're named after the American state?"

"Yep. Well, technically I'm named after the main character in that movie _The Temple of Juatchadoon._ My parents loved that film. My mum was Spanish and my dad was Australian, you see. The love of that film was the only thing they had in common."

"You're a Scottish platypus, named by your Spanish mom and Australian dad, after the main character in a movie who is named after the American state," Perry summed up incredulously.

"Bit of a multi-culture platypus, me. Now, what's the situation?"

Perry briefly outlined everything from the biological attack to the ambush at the warehouse. He even included his mate's kidnapping and Phineas's accident, which he hadn't thought he would include.

"Right," Ohio mused when Perry was finished. "So this organisation has it in for you."

"That's a very basic way of summing up what I just said," Perry said. "But that's right. They hate us and we hate them. Only problem is: they're evil and will actually act on their hatred." He suddenly remembered something. "Wait, were you the one who saved Phineas?"

"Little redhead boy?" Perry nodded. "Yeah, that was me."

"Why?"

"Well, because I was stalking you."

Perry had no idea how to respond to that.

"You're the one who's being targeted. I'll explain later," he added as Perry opened his bill. "I knew you were being targeted so I stalked you. When the boy was hit, I jumped out of the tree and caught him. I knew you were too far away to do anything so I thought if I took care of the boy, you wouldn't have to."

"Wait, so if I'm the one being targeted, then why didn't they snatch me instead of Priya?"

Ohio shrugged. "I guess it's because they want to hurt you before they capture you."

Perry fell silent.

Ohio thought for a moment. "Is your mate a purple platypus?"

"Yes!" Perry answered, his hopes rising. "Have you seen her?"

"Matter of fact, I was in LOVEMUFFIN headquarters earlier today. Broke in just for the hell of it and spotted two prisoners in a room. One of 'em was a purple platypus."

"Two prisoners?" repeated Perry.

"Yeah, the other was a human. He wore a white lab coat so I thought he was one of them at first until I saw he was bleeding quite badly."

"Apollo…!" muttered Perry. "He's alive…!"

"What was that?"

"I need you to take me to OWCA headquarters," Perry said. "It's urgent."

Ohio nodded firmly. "Okie dokie. OWCA HQ is where we shall go."

He stood up back by the handlebars and the platform began moving again.

"Can I ask you a question?" Perry came to stand by the brown platypus. "How exactly did you break into LOVEMUFFIN's headquarters?"

"Piece o' cake, really," Ohio answered loftily. "Their air vents aren't very well secured. Baby could have hacked in, really."

"A baby could have hacked in," Perry echoed.

"Well, perhaps a baby with a degree in electrical engineering."

All of a sudden, the flying platform shook violently. "That means we're getting close," Ohio explained.

"Why on Earth would the platform shaking mean we're getting close?" yelped Perry, clutching onto the pole that the handlebars were attached to.

"For some reason, there's something different about the airspace over OWCA's HQ," Ohio explained. "My flying platform doesn't like it much."

"No kidding!"

They landed on the roof of OWCA. Perry pulled Ohio off the platform and towards the door that led downstairs. Ohio stopped dead. "I don't think I should go in there," he said warily. "I'm a vigilante, not an OWCA agent."

"But you have information," Perry insisted. "You were there at the attack. Besides, you saved me. Major Monogram will want to know that."

"Well, okay," Ohio consented reluctantly, though he didn't look happy about it.

Perry led the way down to Monogram's office. Before they got there, however, Major Monogram himself found them. "There you are, Agent P! Where've you been? And who's this platypus with you?" He didn't give Perry time to answer either of his questions. "Never mind. Get ready, Agent P. We're doing a prisoner exchange."

…

Major Monogram waited at the base of the airplane's ramp. Perry and Ohio were right behind him. Ohio was getting more and more uncomfortable by the minute. "Sir?" Perry eventually said. "Who are we exchanging?"

"Heinz Doofenshmirtz," was the reply.

"How'd you get LOVEMUFFIN to agree to this? I thought Rodney hated Heinz."

"He does," answered Monogram. "But apparently us capturing one of their own was considered too big an insult to let pass."

"That's hypocritical," Perry commented.

"Yes, yes it is. Unfortunately, we couldn't get LOVEMUFFIN to agree to give us Priya."

Perry looked down at the ground, saddened.

"But we are getting Apollo back."

Perry's head snapped back up. "Well that's good," he said.

"Yes, yes it is."

"But why are we out in the desert?"

"It's the closest neutral ground."

At that moment, a car appeared from the city in the distance. Monogram went onto the plane and brought out Heinz Doofenshmirtz, who was not in handcuffs, strangely. Perry still didn't know why Doof was in their custody to begin with, but the prospect of getting Apollo back put the thought out of his mind.

The car stopped about twenty metres away from the plane, and Rodney himself got out. He walked up to the base of the plane's open ramp. "I'm guessing this isn't a trap," he drawled. "Because you know if it is, we still have one of your agents back at HQ."

"It's not a trap," Monogram assured him. "We want Apollo Hastings in exchange for Heinz Doofenshmirtz."

"The deal is set," Rodney assured him.

Monogram pushed Doof off the ramp, where he fell over at Rodney's feet. "Frankly, I'd prefer to stay with OWCA," grumbled Doof.

"Don't be like that, Doofy," Rodney pouted. He seized Doof's collar and pulled him towards the car.

"Now, your end of the exchange," Monogram called after him.

Rodney threw Doof into the car and dragged out Apollo's limp body, which he dumped on the sand on his back, before getting into the car and driving away.

Monogram and Perry rushed to Apollo's side. The doctor had a bullet wound in his side and he was very pale from blood loss. His skin was cold. If not for the weak pulse that Perry found moments later, he would have thought that Apollo was dead.

Monogram picked Apollo up in a bridal lift. "We need to get him back to the hospital as soon as possible."

Perry followed Monogram onto the plane. Ohio had been standing to one side, watching the action. Now he strode forwards. "Perry, I think I better go."

"Go?" repeated Perry. "But we need you!"

"Why would you need me?"

"All our agents are either captured or in hospital," Perry implored him. "We really need your help."

Ohio nodded. "Alright then. I'll stay a little longer."

Just then, Monogram called his name. Perry went further into the plane and spotted his superior in the cockpit. "I'm afraid, until Apollo gets better and is able to heal the biological infection victims, we won't be able to do anything to help Agent Priya. Unfortunately, you'll most likely have to wait until after Christmas."

Perry felt stunned. His first Christmas as Priya's mate…and he would be spending it without her.

…

Priya was all alone now. She had watched as two scientists had dragged Apollo out of the room. Now she had no-one to talk to.

She heard the announcement over the loudspeaker about the prisoner exchange. While she was glad Apollo was free, some part of her couldn't help wondering:

 _Why couldn't it have been me?_


	12. Merry Christmas

Christmas Day wasn't as absolutely terrible as he had expected. Of course, Perry missed and worried about his mate dreadfully, but being with his host family was fun. Because his whole host family knew that he was an agent, he could partake more in the family celebrations.

The day started off with opening presents. Perry felt very sad that he couldn't give Priya her gift, but he received a new, ultra-soft bed from Phineas and Ferb, which was nice. It was actually bigger than his old one, bigger to accommodate two platypuses. Perry felt grateful for that.

The cookies that Perry and Priya had made had kept. They were eaten as breakfast, and the whole family complimented Perry on their great taste. After that, the Christmas tradition of watching a Christmas-themed movie was employed. Perry only just discovered that Phineas and Ferb had actually made a movie of when the whole city had been branded naughty. It included all the songs, from _Where Did We Go Wrong?_ to _What Does He Want?_ and it even had a Perry vs Doofenshmirtz subplot, exactly how it had happened in real life! Complete with _"and a partridge on a Perry!"_ which made everyone laugh.

The moment when Perry missed Priya the most was when he looked at the calendar and realised that by now, Priya's egg would probably have both been born and hatched. It made him very distressed, imagining his mate and their newborn daughter or son in some kind of cage in LOVEMUFFIN headquarters.

While Linda and Lawrence were preparing Christmas lunch, Perry got a call from Major Monogram, saying that Apollo wanted to talk to him.

He hopped off the couch and went to find Phineas and Ferb. The two boys were sitting on the stairs, chatting about past Christmases. Phineas still had trouble moving his chest and torso area but he was able to get up and walk fairly well. In an act of true brotherly kindness, Ferb had karate-chopped Phineas's leg, hard, so that Phineas would have an excuse as to why he couldn't walk very well.

"I gotta go," Perry told them.

Their faces immediately saddened. "Why?" Phineas asked.

"Apollo wants to see me."

Perry had caught Phineas and Ferb up to date on the current situation, so they knew about the exchange.

"Alright then," Ferb said. "We'll miss you but I guess you have to do what you have to do."

Perry hugged them both and took off with his jetpack.

When he got to HQ, he headed straight for the medical bay. On his way there, he found a disgruntled Ohio wandering the corridors. When he saw Perry, he ran towards him and gripped his shoulders. "Thank goodness!" he gasped. "I've been wondering these corridors for the last hour!"

"You got lost?" Perry couldn't help grinning. For all his street smarts, Ohio could just as easily get lost in a building.

"Please just take me with you, wherever you're going."

Perry shrugged. "Suit yourself."

With Ohio following, Perry headed to the medical bay. All the victims of the biological attack were gone. Perry stared round in confusion. "Where'd they go?" he said aloud.

"Where'd who go?" Ohio asked.

"They're all better," came Apollo's voice from the doorway.

Perry turned and saw the doctor standing there. He looked a lot better than the last time Perry had seen him: he was not as pale now, his lab coat was free from blood, and he was standing steadily.

"What do you mean they're all better?" Perry asked.

"Just that. I healed them all."

"How on Earth did you do that?"

Apollo shrugged. "I'm actually not quite sure. Anyway, we have a small army at our disposal, and we're planning a strike tomorrow to get Priya back."

" _YES!"_ Perry fist pumped the air, which startled Ohio.

"Perry, may I talk to you for a moment?" Apollo glanced at Ohio. "Alone."

Perry nodded. "Sure." He turned to Ohio. "Go wait outside for me."

Ohio grumbled, "I'm not a dog, you know," as he traipsed out.

Perry grinned and turned to face Apollo, who was uncharacteristically serious. "I was there when Priya's egg was born," he said.

"Priya laid the egg?" Perry felt like jumping up and down. After all, it was one thing to know that it should have happened by now, but another thing entirely to have it confirmed. "Is she okay?"

"She was fine when I…left," Apollo answered. "It's just that…I think the egg might take a little longer to hatch. It was laid quite prematurely."

"Prematurely?" echoed Perry.

"Yes, based on the contractions she felt when it was being born, it was due next week, is that right?"

"Yes." Perry suddenly felt worried. "Is that serious?"

"Not at all," Apollo answered, to Perry's relief. "It's just that the egg might take more than ten days to hatch."

"Ten days. Is that the normal period of incubation?"

Apollo nodded. "That's right. I just thought you ought to know."

Perry also nodded. "Thank you for telling me," he said.

As he turned to go meet Ohio, he looked towards the sky. _Hang tight, Priya, we're coming soon. I love you and merry Christmas._

…

Priya felt the egg shaking a little. She thought it was time for it to hatch, but she waited an hour and it didn't. This made her think that maybe the egg was too cold, so she took a risk and sat up with the egg underneath her. As she did, she thought to herself, _merry Christmas, Perry, wherever you are. I wish I could be there to spend it with you._


	13. Preparing (siege part 1)

Perry had somehow persuaded Ohio to join in the attack. The brown platypus wasn't happy but he had agreed to let Perry use his floating platform, as long as Ohio was driving, naturally.

Before the attack, Major Monogram gave a debriefing to all the agents involved. Perry sat next to Ohio and Pinky. "We have intel that LOVEMUFFIN HQ is the tall building opposite Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated. Team One—you know who you are—will infiltrate the air vents. From there, the team will split in two: one to find where Agent Priya is being kept, and one to shut off the power so that Team Two can storm the headquarters and defeat LOVEMUFFIN once and for all. Any questions?"

There were no questions, so Monogram dismissed them.

Perry was part of Team One, along with Ohio and Pinky, and a few others whose identities Perry didn't know. That was why he was more than a little surprised to see two certain people suiting up with them.

"Guys, what are you doing?" he asked them.

"We're helping," Artemis said. "There's no way we'll be able to fight so we're part of your team."

"But aren't the vents small?" Pinky frowned.

"Not really," answered Apollo. "I know from when I was there. Because the building is so big, a lot of air needs to be distributed. Therefore, the air vents are actually large enough to accommodate Artemis's height when she crouches."

"That's quite tall," commented Ohio. Perry nudged him. "What?"

Perry grinned and said nothing.

When they were all ready, Ohio and Perry lead the way to the roof, where the flying platform was still parked. When they got there, Pinky, Apollo, and Artemis hopped straight on. Perry was just climbing on when he realised they Ohio had stopped. He was staring at the sunrise over the horizon.

Perry went over to him. "You okay?"

Ohio looked nervous. "It's a big step up for me, Perry. Yesterday, I was a vigilante, saving people who needed it. Today, I'm working with OWCA to basically siege a building and fight to the death."

"It won't necessarily be to the death," Perry corrected him. There was a pause. "Not helpful?"

"Not helpful." Ohio sighed. "I just don't know what's going to happen today, and I'd really like to make it home to my family."

"You have a mate?"

"Yeah, India."

"Another place name," grinned Perry.

Ohio grinned too. "Yeah. We have three kids: Luke, Sam, and Piper. I didn't say goodbye to them properly 'cuz I thought I was coming straight back."

Perry took hold of Ohio's shoulders and forced the brown platypus to look him in the eyes. "Ohio, I swear on my life that I will do everything in my power to make sure you get home to your family."

"You don't have to do that-."

"I want to. After all, I dragged you into this. It's only fair I make sure you get out."

Ohio smiled. "Thanks, Perry. I appreciate it."

"Then if you're ready, we have a tower to siege."

…

Priya was very worried about her egg now. It had been twelve days, and even she knew that the usual incubation period was ten days. She had kept it as warm as possible but the egg showed no signs of hatching. Priya could feel her sanity slipping away with every hour that the egg didn't hatch.

…

Getting into the vents was the easy part; the group had Ohio with them. Ohio had broken into the vents _for fun_.

The harder part was finding their way around. Apollo had been right: the vents were quite big. However, it was hard to navigate. It took them an hour to find their way to the right floor.

"Okay, it's time to split up," Perry said. "Oh man, we forgot to decide how we'll split up."

"I'll go with Pinky and Artemis to the generator room," Ohio offered. "You and Apollo go find Priya."

"Are you sure?" Perry asked.

Ohio nodded determinedly.

"Is everyone okay with that?" Perry asked.

Everyone else nodded.

"Okay. Be careful, Ohio."

Perry felt a lot for Ohio. After all, the guy had saved Phineas's and Perry's lives, and he had willingly come along on this mission. He knew that Ohio and he were friends.

"You too, Perry."

The two groups split.


	14. The Miracle of Life (siege part 2)

Priya stared desperately at the egg. "Come on," she whispered. "Please."

She could hear a noise outside the room, so she quickly hid the egg under her tail. She waited for the inevitable key-in-lock sound, but it didn't come. Instead, the air vent by the door opened and out crawled…

"Perry!" Priya cried.

It looked like Perry was going to faint with relief. He rushed over to the cage, and the two embraced through the bars. Perry cupped his mate's chin in his hand. "Are you okay?"

Priya nodded tearfully. "I'm okay. But the egg hasn't hatched yet."

"The egg…" Perry had almost forgotten about the egg.

"We need to keep this brief," Apollo said as he emerged from the vent as well. He stared round the room. "Gosh, I really hoped I would never come back to this room."

Perry went to a lever on the wall and pulled it. Instantly, the cage lifted. Priya gently picked up the light yellow egg and handed it to Perry, who took it in wonder. This was his son or daughter!

As if it was only waiting for both of its parents, the egg began to shake and cracks began to form. Perry and Priya held their breaths, both platypuses quivering in anticipation and excitement. With its parents watching, the egg hatched. Five seconds later, Priya was holding a tiny, light-blue-furred platypus in her hands.

"Oh my gosh," whispered Priya, and Perry was thinking exactly the same.

"What gender is it?" Perry asked quietly.

Priya paused for a moment. "It's a boy," she said. "Male platypuses are born with light blue fur and female platypuses are born with light pink fur. On their first birthday, their fur starts changing into the colour it'll always be."

Priya passed the baby platypus to Perry, who felt a lot less awkward holding his own baby than he had when he held Peter's daughter, Kimi. "So his name is Teddy?"

"Teddy," confirmed Priya. "He even looks like a little teddy bear."

Apollo had been watching this with wonder. Now he came forwards. "I wouldn't normally interrupt," he began. "But we're in the middle of a war. You can have two more minutes with your new son but then we really need to go."

The words "your new son" thrilled Perry. He was a father! And to a beautiful boy, no less. He and Priya cradled their baby and hugged him as if they were never going to let him go. This was the happiest moment of Perry's life.

…

Ohio really, _really_ wished he hadn't gotten himself into this.

They had switched the power on, easy peasy. What came next was harder.

Ohio, Artemis, and Pinky had made their way onto the open balcony of the building, which had a crane-like structure attached to it. Ohio wasn't sure what purpose that served. It was massive, about fifty feet in length, and slanted upwards. If someone fell from the tip of it, there would be no chance of survival.

Artemis had gone to find Apollo while Ohio and Pinky waited to see if anyone needed their help.

"So you're Ohio," Pinky said after a while.

Ohio stared down off the balcony and didn't look at the Chihuahua as he replied, "Yeah. And yes, I'm Scottish."

"I wasn't going to comment," said Pinky. "You saved Perry's life, back at the warehouse."

"I am aware of that," Ohio said dryly.

It wasn't that he didn't like the Chihuahua, even though he didn't know Pinky very well, he could tell the Chihuahua was a nice guy and a good agent. It was just that this was not the time or place to chat. Ohio watched the agent army storm into the building via the door.

All of a sudden, something orange flew towards Ohio and Pinky, who jumped out the way as the thing landed. Pinky made a choking sound. "Terry…!"

The thing was an orange turtle, with a fedora on its head. Its eyes were red and it had a black collar round its neck. It got into a stance, preparing to fight. "Terry?" Pinky repeated nervously. "It's me: Pinky! D-do you remember me?"

Terry suddenly dived into Pinky and knocked him down.

"I don't think the turtle remembers you," Ohio remarked.

"YOU THINK?" Pinky screeched, trying to fend off the attack. "I could use a little help here!"

"Um…" Ohio thought for a moment. He had known a turtle back home in Scotland, and the one thing that had made him mad was… "Hey, tortoise!" Ohio yelled.

Terry stopped. "Ohh, you shouldn't have done that," groaned Pinky.

"You're welcome for saving your butt," Ohio snapped.

Terry lunged for Ohio, who backflipped away. He found himself on the base of the metal crane-like structure. Terry rained kick after kick and blow after blow on Ohio, who dodged and backflipped backwards. He didn't realise how high he was getting until his foot slipped right off the end of the structure. He gripped one of the metal bars to save himself from falling. Terry loomed over him and lifted his foot, preparing to stomp on Ohio's fingers. Ohio screwed his eyes up and prepared to drop.

But he didn't.

Perry swung to the rescue. He jumped in from the flying platform that he had somehow commandeered and kicked Terry. He aimed it perfectly: the orange turtle tumbled down the structure and landed back on the balcony, where Pinky engaged him in combat.

Ohio's fingers suddenly slipped. He let out a short "ahh!" before he felt Perry's hand close around his. The teal platypus was hanging onto the top metal bar with his other hand, his feet resting on the lower bar. "I got you," Perry said. "Are you okay?"

Ohio nodded shakily. "Yeah, I'm okay." He looked down. "That's a long way down," he chuckled nervously.

"Just focus on me," Perry said, sounding like he was being strained hard. "Maybe your family could come to dinner at ours someday?"

Ohio looked back up at the teal platypus. "Sure, that'd be great."

"Your kids and my kid can play together. How old are yours?"

"Sam's three, Luke's two, and Piper's one. How old's your kid?"

"Teddy's about ten minutes old," Perry grinned.

Ohio's eyes widened as he realised what that meant. "Then you're a new father? Congratulations."

The structure suddenly dipped. Both platypuses gasped at the sudden movement. "What was that?" Ohio shouted.

"I don't know!" Perry looked back. "Looks like Pinky's got Terry under control."

"So what's the deal with your friend? Why's he fighting for LOVEMUFFIN?"

"He's being mind-controlled," Perry answered worriedly. "Everyone who was captured at the warehouse is. On my way, I had to fight off at least four agents I recognised."

The structure gave another jerky dip. This one wrenched Perry's hand off the metal bar, sending both platypuses falling. Perry didn't let go of Ohio's hand.

They only fell about ten feet before they landed on something hard and flying…

"Patty!" gasped Perry.

The light yellow panda was flying Ohio's floating platform. She saluted Perry with a grin. "Honestly, I go to Seattle for two weeks and everything erupts into chaos!"

Ohio let go of Perry's hand and purposefully took the handlebars. Patty sat down next to Perry.

"Where've you been?" asked Perry. "I haven't seen you since you dropped those papers off. And where's Kimi?"

Patty replied, "I was spending some time with my parents and Kimi in Seattle when Major Monogram called. He didn't explain but he said it was urgent. I dropped everything, left Kimi with my parents, and raced on over here. I didn't realise when I got to HQ that most of the agents would be attacking LOVEMUFFIN."

"Have you seen Peter?" Perry asked.

"No, should I have?"

"Just be aware…he's probably being mind-controlled."

Perry explained the attack on the warehouse. Patty looked really distressed. "Oh, Peter," she muttered. "I hope he's okay."

"Me too."

"So what do we do from here?" Patty asked, with a worried look at the massive building. "I mean, we need to take out whoever's controlling our agents so we can get them back. But who _is_ controlling the agents?"

"I don't know, but I do know one person we need to take out. Ohio?"

Ohio turned his head. "Yeah?"

"Drop me and Patty on the roof. We're going to take Rodney out."


	15. Pain and Redemption (siege part 3)

The good news: Artemis found Apollo.

The bad news: now both of them were surrounded by mind-controlled agents in a large, dome-roofed space that looked like it served no real purpose.

Neither Apollo nor Artemis were fighters, as Major Monogram had pointed out a while ago. Apollo was a doctor and Artemis was a counsellor. They both kept recognising previous patients of theirs as they kicked the small, mostly furry agents away.

They knew they were screwed as soon as Agent Wallace the Whale joined the party.

Artemis dodged the whale's tail and ducked under a flying chicken agent that had launched itself at her. She looked round for Apollo but even that brief lapse in concentration was just enough for the whale to smack her with his tail. Artemis hit the metal wall hard, closely followed by Apollo. The siblings clutched hands tightly and backed up against the wall. Both had injuries and wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time. With lethal force, the mind-controlled whale's tail came around to hit them. Apollo tilted Artemis under him—so he would get the brunt of the blow—and the two hugged each other tightly.

But then something hard hit the whale and sent him flying backwards. Apollo and Artemis slowly opened their eyes and saw four adult humans in battle gear, joining the fight. Within no time at all, the four had knocked all the agents out, even the whale.

"Situation secure," said the blonde-haired girl.

One of the two boys turned to Apollo and Artemis, and both of them immediately recognised his face. "Monty Monogram!" Artemis gasped.

Monty grinned and helped Artemis to her feet, before helping Apollo up. "You guys okay?"

Both nodded.

The brown-haired girl was holding some kind of device up to the roof of the room. "According to the scanner, we still got about three dozen agents under mind control," she said. "We're gonna have to take them out."

"Copy that, Lyla," Monty said. He turned back to Apollo and Artemis. "I heard about your kidnapping," he said to Apollo. "That's rough."

Apollo nodded. "Well, at least it didn't last long."

Artemis looked towards the girl that Monty had called Lyla. She pointed at the blonde girl and the red-haired boy. "Edie, Reuben, you two go to the upper level, Monty and I will take the lower level."

Edie and Reuben saluted Lyla and ran out of the room, completely in sync. Lyla turned to Apollo and Artemis. "You two-."

"We're helping," Artemis said firmly.

Lyla raised her eyebrow. "I wasn't going to tell you to go home. Anyway, you two can come with us. My scanner indicated that there are twice as many mind-controlled agents on the lower level than the upper. We'll need your help taking them out."

…

Perry and Patty dropped from the platform onto the roof of the building while Ohio flew off to look for anyone who needed help. They looked through the skylight and saw Rodney standing in a room with a lot of sensitive-looking equipment. He looked like he was fighting someone, but it took a good twenty seconds for that person to come into Perry's view.

It was Heinz Doofenshmirtz.

Patty searched for the catch to open the skylight but Perry stopped her. He wanted to see how this would play out.

Apparently, the glass was quite thin; they could hear everything that was being said. "Why do you betray us again, Doofy?"

"Because what you're doing is insane," came Doof's voice. "Just like you."

Perry watched the fight. Well, if he could call it that. Rodney seemed to have gotten a lot better at fighting. He virtually beat up Doof, until Perry's nemesis was lying, battered and bruised, at his feet. Rodney went to the side and picked up a sword. "It's a pity you don't have a sword," Rodney drawled. "I would have loved to spar with a sword and some witty banter. Ah well. At least I can rid the world of its most pathetic evil scientist."

He raised the sword over the semi-conscious Doof. Perry felt a rush of fear for his nemesis. He and Patty leapt and crashed through the skylight—without opening it—and landed amidst the glass shards. Rodney swung round and raised the sword. Patty drew out a dagger from her light blue dress and flicked it out until it was a full-length sword. Rodney looked surprised at that, but nevertheless, the panda and the evil scientist began their swordfight. It was very intense, and Perry quickly ducked under the swords towards Doof, with the intention of getting his nemesis out of there. Heinz could barely move but Perry helped him crawl over to the side of the room, where Perry gently lay him down. He was about to leave to go and help Patty when he felt Heinz's hand catch his wrist. He looked down at his friend.

"Are you a father now?" croaked Heinz.

Perry nodded. "We have a son called Teddy."

A weak smile spread over Heinz's face. "I knew it. It felt amazing, didn't it? Holding your first child? Like it was only you and this child in the world."

"How would you-? Oh right. Vanessa. Yes, it felt amazing."

A yelp made Perry turn sharply. Instead of the scene he was expecting, quite the opposite greeted his eyes. Patty had corned Rodney, who was without his sword. Perry gave Heinz's hand one last squeeze and then hurried over to help Patty. However, when he got close, Rodney kicked Patty into Perry, knocking both agents over. Rodney pressed a button on a remote control lying on one of the sparking metal machines. Metal doors behind him slid open, revealing…

"Peter!" gasped Patty, scrambling to her feet.

"Agent Peter the Panda," Rodney said smugly. "Attack."

Peter's eyes were glowing red and he had a black collar around his neck, just like Terry. However, unlike Terry, Peter had large metal cuff-bracelets around his wrists. At Rodney's command, Peter leapt forwards and attacked Patty, who defended herself, stunned. "Peter!" Patty gasped again. "Remember me, please!"

"He won't," Rodney said smugly.

Perry launched himself at Rodney and almost literally kicked the smirk off his face, knocking the evil scientist out. It made him feel quite a bit better but the moment was broken when he heard Patty cry out in pain. He whirled round and found that Peter had broken her arm.

Perry dived at Peter with a yell, jumping onto his friend's back. That didn't last long though: Peter was able to dislodge him easily and hit him into the wall. Wincing at the pain in his head, Perry launched another attack which again failed.

"Wow, I am so sorry I spent all those years hating you and calling you inferior to me," Perry muttered. He was actually being genuine. "I was just sore because I thought you stole Heinz from me."

Peter responded to this by punching Perry in the face. Perry leapt back up and ran towards Peter, but he quickly changed course when the two metal bracelets

Then he heard a voice in his earpiece—the thing he had forgotten he had. It was Pinky's voice, saying, "We have Terry back! To snap the agents out of their mind control, remind them of a good memory, I repeat, to snap the agents out of their mind control, remind them of a good memory!"

Perry looked around for Peter. His heart froze when he saw the panda looming over Patty, who was cradling her broken arm and crying desperately. Peter's arm cannons were pointing straight at Patty, who put on a brave face and said, "I love you, Peter. No matter what you do. And I know this isn't your fault; they're making you do these things. Just think of Kimi. Our beautiful daughter. She looks up to you and admires you with all her heart. She thinks you're the best father ever. Make her proud, Pete. Make _me_ proud."

The arm cannons powered up. "No!" yelled Perry.

But they just as quickly powered down. The metal cuffs fell off Peter's wrists, just as the collar broke and tumbled off his neck. His eyes returned to normal.

"Pete?" Patty said hesitantly.

"P-Patty? Oh my God, what did I do to you?"

But Patty launched herself off the ground and hugged Peter fiercely. "It doesn't matter," she said firmly. "You were made to do those things. The only thing that matters is that you're back."

"I love you, Patty."

"I love you too, Pete."

Perry smiled at the heart-warming scene. He turned to look at Rodney but the evil scientist was no longer there. Cursing himself, Perry spun round to look for him but he couldn't see him. _Damnit,_ he thought. They had lost him.

Then Pinky's voice sounded again, "Can anyone hear me? We need really urgent assistance on the upper level, we're surrounded by mind-controlled agents, and these ones have arm cannons. Repeat, we need urgent assistance!"

Perry went over to Peter. "Pinky needs assistance. Let's go give it to him."

Peter nodded and turned to Patty. "Get out of here."

"I want to help," Patty said, but both Perry and Peter could see her gritting her teeth through the pain of her broken arm.

"Go with Heinz to the roof," Perry told her. "Stairs are over there. Signal Ohio and he'll get you two out of there. You're hurt, Patty. Leave it to us."

Patty hesitated. "Okay," she said finally.

Peter gave her one last hug before he and Perry raced off.


	16. Sacrifices (siege part 4)

A gunfight had erupted on the upper level. Lyla, Monty, Edie, and Reuben had all brought laser guns with them, and they were running from place to place, trying to get clear shots amid the ammunition that was being fired back at them by the two dozen animal agents with arm cannons. The four COWCA agents had been joined by two animal agents: Pinky the Chihuahua and Terry the Turtle. Both were dipping in and out of the fight, occasionally tripping an enemy up.

Apollo and Artemis were huddled behind an upturned metal desk. Neither had brought guns and there wasn't anything they could do against the agents who had laser cannons on their arms.

All of a sudden, the metal door flew open. Perry the Platypus and Peter the Panda burst through the door and took down four agents in five seconds. That must have inspired Artemis because she darted out from her hiding space and attacked a dog agent. She managed to take it down but another agent's laser blast caught her in the shoulder and sent her down. Apollo cried out his twin's name and crawled towards her, managing to pull her back behind the safety of the table. Apollo quickly pulled the shoulder of his twin's top down just enough for him to examine the injury. The burn wasn't serious but it looked painful.

"I'm fine, Apollo," Artemis slurred. "I'm fine."

"No you're not," Apollo told her. "Just rest for a moment."

The sounds of battle had stopped. All the agents had been defeated. Apollo lifted Artemis in the same way that Major Monogram had lifted Apollo back in the desert. Perry came to meet them. "Is Artemis okay?"

"She'll be fine," Apollo replied.

"Hey, P!" called Lyla.

Perry turned. "Oh hey, Lyla, Monty. And Edie and Reuben! What are you doing here?"

"CC commissioned us to come over days ago," Lyla said. "He was worried because he hadn't heard anything from MM for a while. When we got to HQ, Major Monogram told us about the attack so we just came right over and found these two in a pickle."

She jabbed her thumb at Apollo and Artemis. "Yes, and we've thanked you for that," Apollo said, looking slightly annoyed.

"Guys, we have a problem," Edie said, holding a scanner. "We've defeated all the animal agents but their collars are rigged to blow. Unless someone can get to the generator that powers them and switch it off in the next five minutes, there's gonna be a smoking crater right here."

"Can we evacuate the building?" Lyla asked.

"It's not going to just affect the building. It'll blow a hole several miles wide in Danville."

The whole room quieted as everybody looked to Lyla, even Perry. The COWCA agent looked like she was feeling the pressure. Perry felt sorry for her. "Okay, then we're wasting time," Lyla said eventually. "What do we need to do?"

"Well, like I said, we need to switch off the generator in the next…we've now got four minutes and ten seconds."

"Does anybody know how to switch off the generator?" Lyla asked the group.

"I do," volunteered Perry.

He took off at a sprint before anybody could say anything and flipped into the air vents. He ran on all fours, not because the vent wasn't big enough to house him standing up—which it was—but because he was quicker on all fours.

"Where are you going?" came a voice from behind him.

He didn't stop but he turned his head and spotted Ohio running behind him in the exact same way. "Where've _you_ been?" Perry demanded.

"I took Patty and that scientist guy to OWCA HQ," he replied. "Your purple platypus mate was there too, with the baby."

"Good."

"Now I bring you back to my original question: where are you going?"

"I'm going in the wrong direction, aren't I?" Perry sighed.

"No, actually," Ohio replied. "But you're about to hit the maze part of the vents and it can get tricky if you don't know where you're going. You might need someone to navigate."

"Okay, lead on."

Perry slowed a little so that Ohio could go in front. He followed his friend's bobbing tail through the literal maze of vents. Ohio was right: he'd never have made his way through the labyrinth in time. Soon, Ohio literally disappeared through a vent opening in the floor. Perry followed him down. He landed on his feet and spotted a sparking machine.

"You turned it off earlier, didn't you?" Perry shouted to Ohio over the roar of the generator.

"That was a different one," Ohio yelled back. "But it should work if you pull that heavy lever over there."

Perry ran to the one he indicated but Ohio's yell stopped him: "Wait, Perry!"

Perry turned to look at him. "I can't exactly wait! What is it?"

"The electricity passes through the handle when it's pulled down! If you do it, you'll be electrically shocked really badly, you might not survive!"

"Well I have to do it or nobody will survive!" Perry shouted back, though Ohio's statement made him feel nervous.

He reached out to touch the lever. It didn't shock him so he kept pushing it down. Just as he felt it was getting to the bottom, he felt someone push him hard into the wall. A little dizzy, Perry opened his eyes just in time to see Ohio push the lever all the way down.

"No!" Perry yelled as he actually saw the current physically pass through Ohio, making him collapse in pain.

The generator stopped sparking. Over his earpiece, he heard Pinky say, "Perry, are you okay? You did it!"

But Perry ignored the Chihuahua's voice. He ran to Ohio's side and felt for a heartbeat. It was there but weak. Perry knew it wouldn't last long. Ohio's eyes were half open, and after several seconds, he rasped, "Did we do it?"

Perry could still hear Pinky's voice over his earpiece, repeating what he was saying earlier. "Yeah, buddy. We did it. _You_ did it." He felt tears prick behind his eyelids as he looked at his dying friend. "But why did you take over from me? I promised I'd bring you back to your family!"

"That wasn't your promise to make," Ohio croaked.

He shuddered. Perry placed his hand on Ohio's shoulder. "I can't just sit here and watch you die…"

"Who's dying?" came Pinky's voice.

"Ohio…" Perry muttered, half answering Pinky's question, half still in shock at what had happened.

"Just tell my kids that I saved Danville," pleaded Ohio.

"No," Perry said fiercely. "Because you're going to tell them yourself."

Ohio managed a smile. "I've only known you for two days but I feel as if we're childhood best friends."

"Me too." Perry also managed to smile. "You've my life twice now, not to mention saving Phineas's."

Ohio's smile did not disappear. "It's my duty," he rasped. "And it has been an honour to fight with you."

He jerked, and that was when Perry knew his heart was stopping. "No, no, no, no!" Perry kept repeating, trying CPR.

But he wasn't strong enough to prevent poor Ohio's heart from stopping.

Perry didn't notice when his friends emerged from the vent. Apollo rushed forwards as Artemis gently pulled Perry out of the way. Lyla, the COWCA agents, Artemis, Pinky, and Perry anxiously watched Apollo perform CPR. Perry had a glimmer of hope; Apollo was strong and he was a doctor. If anyone could revive Ohio, he could.

After two minutes, there was no change. Apollo didn't give up, though. Everyone except him and Perry was starting to grieve.

Then came the breath as Ohio's heart restarted.


	17. All's Well That Ends Well (or is it?)

Perry exited the medical bay and stretched, feeling refreshed. It had been only 24 hours since the attack and Apollo had just given him the all-clear to go back on active duty. All agents had been required to have a physical check-up, just in case.

He walked past Artemis on his way down the hall. The counsellor gave Perry a quick smile. Her shoulder was still in a sling but was healing nicely, according to her brother.

"Hey Perry," called a voice behind him.

He turned to see the brown platypus tip his hat to Artemis and run to catch up with Perry. "Dude, you should be resting," Perry told him.

Ohio shrugged. "I'll have plenty of time to rest when I'm dead."

"Technically, you did actually die," Perry pointed out.

"Eh, potato potahto."

Perry and Ohio came into the lobby of the OWCA building, where a familiar purple platypus was waiting. Priya flung herself into Perry's arms and the two mates embraced warmly. It was a bit of an awkward hug, however, because Priya was holding the small platypus in one of her arms. Perry made a fuss over Teddy for a moment before he realised something.

"Hey Priya, you haven't met Ohio, have you?"

Ohio shook Priya's hand. "Nice to meet you," he said.

"Likewise."

Ohio let go of Priya's hand but the purple platypus held onto his wrist. "You actually sacrificed your life for Perry's," she said solemnly. "And for that I am forever grateful."

Ohio smiled and tipped his hat to her. "I'll admit the experience was a little shocking, but-."

"Seriously?" Perry stared at his friend with disbelief. "You seriously just made that pun?"

"What?" Then Ohio seemed to realise. "Oh. Haha, that was actually entirely unintentional."

"Sure it was."

Perry nudged Ohio good-humorously. "So, you going to stick around a bit?"

Ohio shrugged again. "I guess I could stick around for a while."

"By the way," Priya said, breaking the two apart. "I think there's someone who wants to see you. Four someones, actually."

Perry looked over Priya's shoulder and saw four platypuses walking through the doorway. The tallest one was clearly an adult and she had light pink fur. She was holding the right hand of a fairly small red-furred platypus and the left hand of a slightly bigger dark brown platypus, who looked like a smaller version of Ohio, just without the hat or tool belt. Perched on her shoulders was a smaller, light brown platypus.

Ohio turned and spotted them. His face turned to an expression of part-delight, part-shock. "India!"

The pink platypus had a similar look on her own face. "Ohio!"

"Daddy!" screeched the two larger platypus children.

They let go of their mother's hands and hurtled at Ohio, who scooped the two children into his arms. "Hey boys!" he said.

India took the one-year-old platypus off her shoulders and put her on the ground, where she stumbled towards Ohio too. Ohio gave all three of his children a massive hug, before standing up and happily embracing India while their kids hugged them.

Perry and Priya linked hands and happily watched. Ohio turned with India towards them. "India, these are my new friends. Perry and Priya, and their kid Terry."

India shook hands with both Perry and Priya. "Great to meet you," she said warmly. Like Ohio, she also had a Scottish accent. "Kids, why don't you introduce yourselves?"

The mini-Ohio grinned and held out a hand. "I'm Sam," he said.

"I'm Luke," piped up the red platypus. "And this is our little sister Piper."

"I can talk for myself, Luke," the little light brown platypus snapped furiously at her brother, her cute little voice making everyone laugh.

Just then, Major Monogram strode into the lobby and spoke to the receptionist. Perry couldn't hear what was said but Monogram looked very serious. The major turned away and caught sight of the group of platypuses. "Ah, Agent P. I see you're all rested up."

"Yes, sir," Perry said, giving a salute. "And I'll be back on active duty soon."

To his surprise, Monogram waved him down. "There's no need for that, Perry."

Perry registered this use of his proper name. It made him feel confused. Monogram hardly ever referred to him as "Perry". It was always "Agent P".

"Is everything okay, sir?" Priya asked.

Monogram looked gravely at Priya. "Rodney and a small group of LOVEMUFFIN scientists are still out there," he said. "And Rodney got his hands on a leaked list of all the names of OWCA's agents."

"Wh-what?" gasped Priya, clutching Teddy more tightly to her.

"I'm afraid it gets worse," Monogram said. "He's read the list of names on TV, during a television program that almost everybody in Danville watches. Every single agent of OWCA has had their cover blown."


End file.
